January 27, 2010

From Bono to Angelina Jolie, the ‘cool’ humanitarian thing to do these days is to send money to Africa, you know, to help feed, shelter, educate and provide medical services to the starving boney children with flies on their eyes. What may come across as shocking to the Bonos of our world is that not all humanitarian efforts have helped the continent, at least that’s what Moyo would say. Most Africanists have heard of Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo for her clear-cut assertion that foreign aid has not only stagnated, but that it has also been the root cause of developmental retardation for the African continent. Perhaps it is a combination of Moyo’s conservative side and her African roots that have given her considerable attention, often compared to Ayaan Hirsi-Ali -another conservative figure bred on the continent who is widely known for criticizing the Prophet Muhammad. It comes as no surprise that both Hirsi Ali and Moyo have contributed their knowledge and experience to the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, a harbor of conservative scholar academia.

The emergence of popular, educated African women icons such as Moyo has given Western as well as other audiences new paths for understanding why Africa’s predicament is still enduring decades after colonial rule. Moyo’s perspective is not a completely unexplored opinion, authors such as Paul Easterly have advocated for diminishing help from bureaucratic organizations and instead searching for what he refers to as ‘homegrown development’. So what is fundamentally different about ‘Dead Aid’? Moyo’s audience ranges from prominent politicians such as Rwandan President Paul Kagame who have been pushing for gradual independence from foreign assistance, to economists such as Jeffrey Sachs who advocate for the ‘end of [African] poverty’ through Western aid.

Throughout her many interviews, Moyo reiterates the main issues that she also raises in her book, one of which argues that foreign aid fuels corruption since there is no transparent allocation of the donation. Moyo raises an interesting point about the lack of fund appropriation for foreign aid; she also understands how this has trapped Africa in an aid dependency cycle that, coupled with operational bureaucracies, disables the development of private enterprise. Thirdly, Moyo argues that ‘large inflows of capital… really kill off the export sector’ because most African nations are abundant in extractable minerals and resources. Finally, Moyo elaborates on the consequences of corruption that result in the African government’s lack of accountability, rather than being held responsible by its people, governments have geared their liability to international organizations and businesses. As a result, Moyo makes the assertion that an African middle-class is barely existent, instead the disparities between the wealthy who remain in power and the poor who are barely surviving, continue to be the center of African realities.

Personally, I would say that Moyo’s collection of data that support her one-sided views have elements of truth within them, however, it would be unrealistic to reinforce a 'let's cut off all foreign aid to Africa' instantly. Despite the corruption and the bureaucracy, foreign aid has been the main source for the survival of at least an estimated millions, for this reason, the plan to decrease and eventually cut off foreign aid would be to strengthen the government's provision of public services. The measures would take time especially because most African governments are known for their notorious personal economic drives, that is why an internal change in the political institutions would have to be upheld alongside the development of a stronger civil society. As Moyo suggests, micro-finance is one of the most effective ways of establishing these goals since a 'homegrown' or bottom-up development could be sustainable in the long-term growth of Africa.The biggest challenges remain: how to deal with political greed? how do we create incentives for African governments to establish public services?

Featuring
poetry and remembrances by poets Kenny Carroll, Elen Awalom, Holly
Bass, and Sarah Browning, Sameer Dossani, former director of 50 Years
is Enough, Zahara Heckscher, Emira Woods of Foreign Policy in Focus,
Neil Watkins of Jubilee USA Network, Dave Zirin, author of What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States,
and others. Audience members will also have an opportunity to offer
their memories or to read a favorite poem by Dennis Brutus. Program to
be followed by a screening of I Am a Rebel, a 50-minute documentary of Brutus' life by the South African filmmaker Vincent Moloi.

A
world-renowned political organizer and one of Africa's most celebrated
poets, Brutus was a life-long champion of peace and social justice. As
an early opponent of Apartheid in South Africa, he spent years in
prison on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela. Upon his release and
exile, Brutus successfully organized an international sports boycott of
South Africa. Among his many books are Poetry & Protest: A Dennis Brutus Reader (Haymarket Books, 2006).

December 11, 2009

Its name is “leblouh” or intensive force-feeding, and its victims are young girls. The price: her health, future, happiness and dreams. In the African country of Mauritania young girls are terrified of food because the more they are forced to eat, the closer they are to early marriage, young motherhood and deferring their ambitions of working in the professional world, as doctors, nurses, and teachers.

The process of “leblouh” entails placing young girls in a camp during school breaks where they are broken down and told that “thin women are inferior” and that men find skinny women revolting. In one camp, the girls are EACH fed 40 egg-size balls of oil foods in addition to 12 pints of goat’s milk and gruel. The total intake for the day equals 14, 000-16,000 calories, this is 10,000-12,000 more calories than is recommended for a male body builder to intake in a day. If the girl refuses to eat she is beaten and tortured via the placement of two sticks around one toe, which is then squeezed. Even more disturbing: if she vomits the food, she must drink it.

Girls between the ages of 5-14 go through this fattening process. The aim of which is to make them more attractive to their male counter-parts. It is said that Mauritanian men like their women to be fat. Overweight women are sexy and erotic; the fatter the woman, the more beautiful and appealing she is to them. This preference for bigger women dates back to the ancient Moors (nomadic Muslims of the Arabic and Berber stock) who desired fatter wives, as it was a symbol of a man’s wealth. A fat wife meant that the man could afford to hire maids and servants to do the heavy housework, which left his wife plenty of time to lounge around and eat to her heart’s desire.

While the end result is aesthetically pleasing to men, the women pay a hefty price for this beauty ideal. Mauritanian women are literally DYING to be beautiful. These young girls are prone to diabetes, heart disease, depression, hypertension, and low self-esteem. The extra fat creates the illusion of a physically more mature girl, a 14 year-old can look 30 with the added fat, this makes it easier for her to marry at a younger age, giving her ambitions an earlier deferral. Marie Claire Magazine reported Dr. Mohammed Ould Madene, an emergency specialist saying, “The fat ideal is a grave matter of public health” he continued to describe a case where a 14-year-old girl was rushed to the hospital because her heart had collapsed under the enormous weight of her body. Sadly this is becoming all too common.Older married women, desperate to maintain their weight and keep their husbands, go to the black market to purchase drugs to aid in their weight gain. As MC reported, one woman bought weight gain pills that can cause low blood pressure, kidney failure, and blurred vision if she were to misuse it. The woman did this in response to her husband telling her that he “didn’t like sleeping with a bag of bones”. In another case, a pregnant woman died after taking animal hormones in an attempt to give birth to a fat baby.

Before the military coup in August 2008, the practice of “leblouh” was declining in Mauritania; there were even some claims that “leblouh” was extinct. However, after the coup, which replaced the democratic government with a Junta (it became official after the July 2009 election) traditional rules became law. When this happened there was a push for women to revert back to traditional roles, hence “leblouh” became the standard for young girls. According to the Mauritanian Government, before the coup, 20-30 % of girls in the urban areas practiced “leblouh” while in the rural areas 50-60% of girls went through the process of “leblouh”. Now however, approximately 80% of girls undergo “leblouh” regardless of their location.

While the Mauritanian government has not legalized this deplorable practice, it has made attempts to stop it by implementing information campaigns about the dangers of diabetes and heart disease, one of which included ballads condemning fattening. In 2010, the Mauritanian government plans to launch a program along with the UN Population Fund that is aimed at eliminating harmful practices, including force-feeding to women.

December 09, 2009

In Copenhagen this week, delegates from 160 countries are gathered to come up with a global plan for reversing global warming, and combating the effects of climate change.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC or Congo) is home to the world’s second largest rainforest, covering over 515,000 square miles, the greatest expanse of rainforest in all of Africa. The rainforest covers roughly 60% of the country.

Deforestation in the DRC is driven by small-scale slash and burn agriculture, as well as mining and commercial logging. From 1990-2005 the DRC lost more than 26,000 square miles of forest to logging, close to 5% of all the rainforest. However, between 2002 and 2005 the government of the DRC granted 15 million hectares, over 57,000 square miles of rainforest concessions to logging companies- or more than 9% of the total rainforest. If the trend continues, by 2050 the DRC risks loss of 40% of its forests, and this loss will release 34.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Currently only 43,000 square miles of the rainforest has a protected status, safeguarding it from commercial uses.

The rainforest in the Congo directly affects weather and rainfall patterns both in the region, and in the North Atlantic. Loss of forest has a direct and disastrous effect on global warming and will result in increased flooding, heat waves, droughts, and rising oceans. Deforestation effects climate change in two distinct ways.

First, forests serve as reservoirs for carbon. The forests in the DRC account for 8% of all global carbon stores, the 4th largest carbon reservoirs of any country in the world. According to Simon Lewis, a researcher at the University of Leeds, "Tropical forest trees are absorbing about 18% of the CO2 added to the atmosphere each year from burning fossil fuels, substantially buffering the rate of climate change."

Second, the process of cutting down the trees in the forest and plowing the earth itself releases carbon into the atmosphere. Emissions from deforestation are about 25% of all global carbon dioxide emissions resulting from human activities.

Reversing the trend of deforestation in the DRC is essential to combating global climate change.

You can help reduce deforestation in the DRC and combat global warming by signing up for action alerts on Africa Action's website. Staying aware and active in the fight to reduce deforestation in the DRC is essential to ensuring that local populations are able to thrive in an ecologically sustainable way and benefit from their own resources.

During the holiday season, shop responsibly! Make sure that any gifts that you purchase do not contain timber from the Congo rainforests. Learn more by visiting the Forest Stewardship Council at: http://www.fscus.org/faqs/fsc_products.php.

December 07, 2009

Last week Côte d’Ivoire declared a “slight change” of the Nov. 29 election date. It is the latest in a long series of delays and at a glance really just seems to be more of the same in the frustratingly cumbersome progress of democratization across the continent. The announcement came from CI’s independent electoral commission president, Robert Mambe who said that the delay was a result of the length of time taken to compile the provisional voter list. So what’s the deal in Cote d’Ivoire? Following the introduction of multiparty elections in the early 90s and then the death of its first president in soon after the country struggled with squabbling between the political parties. When the economic situation worsened in the late 90s political tensions rose and the blame game turned along divisive ethnic lines. This led to a 1999 coup and eventually outright civil war in 2002 which has left the country divided between the north and south. Eventually an integrated transitional government was agreed upon. Original plans to hold elections in October 2005 failed after local parties and political leaders were unable to cooperate with rebels in the north, claiming that the government would rig any elections. Thanks to a U.N. backed peace agreement the current president remained in power for another year in order to facilitate elections. In November 2006 there were still no elections or concrete plans for them and the U.N. voted to extend the transitional government until Oct 31, 2007, the new date for elections. After this date comes and goes President Gbagbo announces in April 2008 that elections will be held on Nov 30 2008. One month before that the election is postponed to Dec. 31st after failures to progress in voter registration and military disarmament. Elections are reset to Nov 29. Truthfully, the latest delay can hardly be seen as surprising. Like so many other conflicts in Africa, the rebels once unified have splintered as the crisis has dragged on. Disarmament however has not been the most pressing problem. The most politically sensitive issue remains that of nationality and who is eligible to vote. The divisive debate harkens back to the days of Houphouet’s successor Henri Konan Bédié’s political feud with northern rival Alassan Outarra whom he tried do disqualify from presidential eligibility by questioning his nationality. The U.N. has called for accelerating the remaining technical steps, such as the printing and distribution of national identity and voter cards. However official papers dispersion has been poor even before the first coup in 1999. The on-going crisis in Cote d’Ivoire is only one of the latest to strike the region of West Africa, which has accounted for 60% of Africa’s military interventions since the 1970s. The case of Côte d’Ivoire is especially troubling, as it had once been hailed as a model of both political stability and economic success. Successful polls would, according to a Reuters report earlier this year, “lure investors back to a nation that was the economic and political powerhouse of West Africa but has seen poverty rates rise to almost 50 percent from 38 percent since 2002, according to government figures.” However, so far, leaders on both sides of the conflict seem more interested in maintaining their own success (however limited) than ensuring the ability for citizens to take back control of their nation.

The
main concern was not that I would be HIV positive. I had been preparing
myself to hear such news,facilitated
by South Africa, a country where there is a serious movement from civil society
in the region to destroy the stigma around getting tested for HIV. I’ve
spent enough time in the country to know that one can live a normal life while
being HIV positive. As a result, that morning at the clinic in
Pimville, South Africa, although I was concerned about having HIV, my main
concern was actually that I would faint as they gave me the test!

The
last time I was tested was at a clinic in Harrisonburg, Virginia. There,
the nurse used a small vial with a needle at the end to draw blood from vein in
my arm. That day I was ok, but there was another time when I had blood
drawn and I became very light-headed. The nurse made me prop my feet up
on a desk to keep me from fainting. I had been told that they use a
pinprick to draw blood from one’s fingertip at the clinic in Pimville, but I
wasafraid there might be
some mistake and they would draw blood from my arm.

I
had been called into the room by a woman. She asked me to sit in a chair.
She then sat down in a chair herself, facing me. She reached up and
pulled a curtain closed to form a small space in which she and I were then
alone. She introduced herself and said, “I am the HIV/AIDS councillor at
this clinic.” She was calming and comforting; motherly, sisterly, and
professional. She didn’t say much, though. She let her vibration
speak for her. I felt quite at ease at knowing that this extremely
focused African woman might soon tell me that I am now carrying the HIV virus.

She
then opened the curtains and asked me to sit in another chair for the
test. Still focused, still comforting, she busily put on some laytex
gloves and prepared a cotton ball with some rubbing alcohol. The feeling
of ease suddenly disappeared. Thank goodness she took a little piece of orange
plastic from a box.This was
the needle. She took hold of the index finger of my left hand and placed
the little needle against my fingertip. Since I had nearly passed out
once before, I decided not to watch.

She
pierced my finger, squeezed it to make the blood come out, and then she put the
drop of blood onto some small plastic thing which looked similar to an at-home
pregnancy test. I understand that this method of testing for HIV is
accurate and quick. In fact, I told the nurse about the test that I’d had
in the States. She said that they didn’t use that method because they got
the results right there at the clinic. She said it was very expensive to draw
the blood and send it to a lab. She then put the alcohol-saturated cottonball over my fingertip and told me
the results would be ready in about 15 minutes.

I
walked out of the room and returned to my seat next to my friend who had come
with me. Now all that was left was a few minutes of suspense before I
learned my status. My friend and I talked with each other to pass the
time, and soon the door opened and my name was called. I stood up and
walked into the office.

Once
inside, the councillor asked me to return to the same seat where she had asked
me to sit the first time. She also sat in her original seat and drew the
curtains so we were alone again. She had the plastic testing device in
her hand, which she showed to me. There was a tiny window showing a
whitish surface. On that surface was a greyish-blue line.

“How
many lines do you see?” she asked me.

I
answered with the truth, “One.”

“That
means you are HIV negative. You should come back in three months.”

“Kea
lebohahaholo, mmeoa ka,” I said to her, which is Sesotho
for “Thank you very much, my mother.”

I
did not smile when I walked out of the room. I tried to keep a straight
face because I didn’t want to seem rude to anyone in the clinic who was HIV
positive. But I was quite relieved to have the experience overwith.
I told my friend the news as we walked into the lobby of the clinic, and then
we walked out the door into the hot Soweto morning.

The four leading causes of maternal death are:
bleeding, sepsis, obstructed labor, and abortion.

For every woman every woman who
dies from childbirth and pregnancy, six women survive but with injuries
such as obstetric
fistula and chronic health problems.

The situation has gotten so
bad that the country will not be able to reach two of the MDGs goals
which are to reduce the maternal morality rate by three quarters and reduce the
mortality rate among children under five by two thirds by 2015.

These statistics are so high
because of several issues:

Women live very long distances from hospitals
and have no access to transportation to take them there.

Women cannot afford to pay for health-care to
get the adequate medical attention they need while pregnant.

Some women are afraid/uninformed about
hospitals, medical procedures and their benefits.

Women and their husbands are not aware of contraceptives
and their benefits and how to use them properly.

What is being done to
improve this situation?

§Poor expectant mothers are now being offered an option to
obtain "baby vouchers"Provided
through the German Development Bank and the Global Partnership on Output Based
Aid (managed trust fund by the World Bank), the “baby voucher” is part of a
three-year Reproductive Health Voucher project that is aimed improving the
management of STIs and providing safe deliveries in the Ugandan districts of
Mbarara, Kiruhura, Isingiro, and Ibanda. This voucher costs sh35, 000 – sh50,
000 and gives the expectant mother access to four antenatal visits, STI and HIV
testing, delivery (includes C-section), screenings for malaria and prophylaxis,
transportation for referral in case of emergency, and post-natal care (up to
six weeks after delivery).

§The Ugandan Ministry of Health has implemented pilot projects that use
the drug, Misoprostol to reduce maternal deaths.

§The Ugandan Ministry of Health has also acknowledged the
need for more trained midwives especially in the rural areas of the country.

The Irony:

§Most poor women can not afford the sh35, 000-sh50, 000 fee
for the “baby voucher”

§The drug, Misoprostol that the Ugandan Minister of Health is
suggesting to use because it is “effective and relatively cheap” is, according
to the FDA, very unsafe for pregnant women. The FDA states, “Misoprostol
administration to women who are pregnant can cause abortion, premature birth,
or birth defects. Uterine rupture has been reported when Misoprostol was
administered in pregnant women to induce labor or to induce abortion beyond the
eighth week of pregnancy.”

§Women still live far away from hospitals and because they
can not afford the health card, they will become part of the statistics

§Men do not want their wives utilizing contraceptives or
talking about family planning

What
SHOULD BE done:

§There is an urgent need
to train more midwives and place them within rural areas

§Poor pregnant women
need access to health care; the “baby voucher” is a great idea and has had a
positive effect with the women who are ABLE to obtain the card. Therefore, the
rate for the card should either be reduced or given to these women for free.
When this is done, more women will be able to obtain transportation to the
hospital where they will receive the adequate care they need to have a safe
delivery.

§Both women and men need
to be educated about contraceptives
and their benefits and how to use them properly.

§Women need to be
educated about the different forms of delivery possible, such as C-sections.
This type of education will help prevent cases such as an expectant mother who
was already the mother of 12, came into the hospital for a delivery but left
after she was referred for a C-section out of fear of being operated on. When
she came back to the hospital, it was an emergency patient; she ended up losing
one of the twins she was carrying.

November 16, 2009

For the past few days I’ve been visiting good friends in Pimville, a township in Soweto, South Africa. Yesterday my South African mother and I went to the next street over to get airtime for her phone and for the phone of her mother.

When we arrived, we went around to the back door, which is the culturally correct way to approach someone’s house here in Pimville. There was a large shack back there, and inside was our friend. We greeted her and sat with her while she was drinking a beer.

The three of us sat and talked. At first we talked about language. Most Sowetans I’ve met normally speak several languages. We also talked about culture, and how when someone comes to a new country they must adopt the culture of that place. Eventually, the conversation turned to one of the main topics in South Africa today: 2010.

As most people know, the FIFA World Cup is coming to South Africa in June 2010. A huge influx of people is expected for the event. Out conversation concerned one of the housing ideas for the coming soccer fans. As it turned out, the woman who we met is going to be hosting some soccer fans at her home here in the township.

While I listened to the woman talk, I began to imagine a scenario when a soccer fan comes to South Africa for the very first time and is staying in Pimville. The person will need to be able to get from the township to the stadium in Town (Johannesburg). There could be problems because the taxi system can be quite confusing. I’ve been in South Africa several times but I still don’t understand how to get from Soweto to a specific location in Town. There is also a new bus system called Rea Vaya, but I’ve never used it so I can’t comment on it. With these things in mind, I imagined that this soccer fan would really need to get good information about how to get around while in South Africa.

Also there will be increased security during the World Cup. The South African Police now have what people have described as a “shoot-to-kill” mandate. In the local paper, The Sowetan, Police Commissioner Bheke Cele has said he has told his police that if they encounter, “. . . anybody who has a gun in his hand and is threatening you with a gun then you must use yours.” That article appeared on Thursday, November 12, 2009. The very night before, on the TV news there was a story about a three-year old who had been shot dead by police because they thought they saw a gun and ended up firing. Both SA police and private security will be increased at taxi ranks and in the streets during the World Cup.

Now, I tend to feel relatively safe in Pimville, although I know I could get robbed or even beat up or killed. But there are good people here who know me and who I know. I’ve become part of a family here. I listen to them and heed their advice as well as that of other people who have accepted me into their families and lives.

Back to the aforementioned soccer fan . . . when that person arrives, he or she will be a stranger in a strange land. I can see such a person, out of carelessness, getting involved in a situation they might regret. If this person is staying in a township like the one I am staying in, the very best thing this soccer fan could do to have a good time in South Africa is to make friends with people in the community where he or she is staying. They must bua le boahisane ba hao, which is Sesotho for “talk with their neighbours.” They must also be humble and very respectful to people, especially elders. You need to learn the basics of the culture. Period. And be careful who you trust.

I have experienced unfathomable lover and spiritual growth because of the ubuntu culture of my dear friends, mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers in South Africa. I’ve also heard gunshots in a residential area as my friends and I walked one night from one township to another, gunshots that probably put bullets into somebody’s body.

If you come to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, make friends with the good people in the community where you might be staying. This will not only increase your safety but you will really experience much more than a few soccer matches. In fact, you might find that the matches end up being among your least significant memories, thoroughly overshadowed by the interaction with South Africa’s beautiful diverse people and cultures. Don’t come just for the soccer. Come with your heart open to South Africa and . . . well, if you’re like me, you’ll never want to leave!

October 29, 2009

It has been a month and a day since the brutal stadium attacks in Conakry claimed the lives of a reported 157 people and injured 1,253 more. Only 3,000 of a 97,000 labor force reported to work yesterday with thousands staying at home to memorialize the violence experienced and to make a stand for stability in the nation. A Human Rights Watch report published recently claimed that the violence perpetrated by the “Red Beret” elite Presidential Guard of current President Captain Moussa Dadis Camara was premeditated, rather than spontaneous.

The extent of the violence that occurred on the 28th and continues to occur daily today in Guinea is still unknown, though the effects of these gross human rights infractions will be felt by the country in the years to come. A Human Rights Watch report has claimed that the stadium attacks were premeditated. They might also have possibly been fueled by ethnic tensions against the Peuhl people according to firsthand accounts. Soldiers were reported to have shouted, “You say you don’t want us, that you prefer Cellou [the leading Peuhl opposition candidate, Cellou Dalein Diallo]… we’re going to kill all of you. We will stay in power.”

The composition of the army and its link to Captain Camara remains unclear. It has been speculated that some soldiers were speaking English during the attacks, indicating that the Red Beret force might not solely be composed of Guineans, but have been gradually joined by soldiers from the surrounding nations of Liberia and Sierra Leone. In the weeks following the stadium attacks, probes into Captain Camara’s involvement orchestrating the terror at the stadium has brought the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Haile Menkerios, to Conakry. Though Captain Camara was not physically present at the protest, the head of his personal bodyguard, Lieutenant Abubakar “Toumba” Diakité, was. Mr. Menkerios and Mr. Ban Ki-Moon will be setting up trials to bring the perpetrators of the violence to justice, supporting efforts by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The assembled crowd at the stadium attempted to use nonviolent means to pressure Captain Camara to announce that he would not be running in scheduled fair and free elections next year. The violence experienced, particularly by the women, in response to nonviolence was shocking to survivors of the attacks. Rapes have started to be reported by victims and witnesses and their stories indicate a despicable level of brutality seen in the light of day. A report by NPR on October 20th cited Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher with Human Rights Watch, saying, "What was new about the sexual violence on Sept. 28 and in the days after has been the public nature of it — the stripping of women, raping them, putting the barrels of guns inside their vaginas. This type of thing has been extremely shocking to Guineans — a very, very conservative society that have simply never seen this type of thing before." Many women were captured by the Red Beret and gang raped over a period of several days before being released. With peace and stability still not restored in the country, there is no way of telling the extent to which HIV/AIDS has spread as a result of the rapes

This savage brutality came two days before Secretary Clinton’s signing of a UN resolution protecting women against sexual violence in conflict. The timing of the legislation seemed fortunate in focusing the world’s attention on the situation in Guinea. However, the call for humanitarian action was largely ignored by the international community and continues to be a second priority to securing political stability and launching judicial hearings to find those responsible. Though those imperatives are important for the healing of Guinean society, the immediate health of the population cannot be overlooked. More must be done for the victims of the massacre and for the victims of ongoing crime still perpetrated by the Red Berets daily in frequent car jacking and theft.By Martine Randolph